Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
ALBERT JENKS,
artist, Los Angeles, was born in New York, May 26, 1830. His parents, Levi and
Nancy Jenks, came West to Chicago in 1836, and were among the earliest settlers
of that western metropolis. They located at Joliet, Illinois, when there were
only three houses there. The subject of this sketch attended the common schools,
and completed his education at Rock River Seminary. When quite a young man he
studied medicine in the office of D. S. Smith, the veteran homeopathist of
Chicago and the Northwest. Afterward he removed to Aurora, Illinois, and engaged
in mercantile business for some years, and then entered into banking and carried
on the business for ten years. Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion he went
into the army. In raising a company of cavalry he had 400 applications for
enlistment, but accepted only 100, and the men furnished their own horses and
equipments. He was commissioned Captain of cavalry in the Thirty-sixth Regiment,
was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, participated in several battles, and served
from 1861 to 1863. After his return from the service he engaged in mercantile
business for several years, and gave it up to follow his chosen vocation. From
early childhood lie had a remarkable taste for painting, and in all the schools
he attended during childhood, so fond was he of drawing that he was called the
"boy artist." After taking up the brush he remained in Chicago until 1872. Then
he was in Detroit several years, and in 1875 he came to the Pacific Coast,
locating in San Francisco until 1886, when he came to Los Angeles, and since
then has been busily engaged in executing orders received here, and has taken a
leading position in the profession on the Pacific Coast. After the nomination of
President Lincoln in 1860, Mr. Jenks received a letter from William Butler,
Secretary of State for Illinois, asking him to go to the capital to paint a
portrait. Mr. Jenks responded to the request, not knowing who the subject was
until he reached Springfield, and found it was Mr. Lincoln, the great martyr
President. Mr. Jenks has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Frances H.
Wetmore, of Ohio, who died leaving one daughter, now Mrs. Charles Sontag, of San
Francisco. His present wife was Mrs. Cornelia A. Trowbridge, of the city of
Detroit.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1889 Page 518
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler